THIS PLACE WHERE YOU ARE
RIGHT NOW
This place where you are right now,
God circled on a map for you.
Wherever your eyes and arms and heart can move
Against the earth and sky,
The Beloved has bowed there—
Our Beloved has bowed there knowing
You were coming.
I could tell you a priceless secret about
Your real worth, dear pilgrim,
But any unkindness to yourself,
Any confusion about others,
Will keep one
From accepting the grace, the love,
The sublime freedom
Divine Knowledge always offers to you.
Never mind, Hafiz, about
The great requirements this path demands
Of the wayfarers,
For your soul is too full of wine tonight
To withhold the wondrous Truth from this world.
But because I am so clever and generous,
I have already clearly woven a resplendent lock
Of His tresses
As a remarkable truth and gift
In this poem for you.
This place where you are right now,
God circled on a map.
And wherever, dear, you can move against
This earth and sky,
The Beloved has bowed there,
Knowing,
Knowing you were coming.
~ Hafiz
©️
"This Place Where You Are Right Now" from A Year with Hafiz, Daniel Ladinsky, copyright 2011. www.danielladinsky.com. Printed with permission.
Hafiz on acceptance
On my desk, next to my computer where I work, stand two greetings cards. They serve as reminders to me, to ‘not sweat the small stuff’ – which of course translates into letting go of my identification with the content of my thinking, and to relax into presence, once more.
The first is a funny little one that my wife gave me on my 50th birthday. It simply reads:
“Relax. Nothing is under control.”